3 Reasons to Eat Bee Pollen

Bee pollen is the food of young bees made by honeybees. Recently it has been purported as a new “super food.” While I’m not comfortable with that label, I do believe that there are some benefits to this food which contains many vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. I have been ingesting bee pollen granules through the spring and summer for a few years now, and these are three reasons why you should eat bee pollen too.

1. ProteinBee pollen is a complete protein. It’s 40% protein meaning it contains more protein per volume than any animal source. About half of these are free amino acids. Free meaning that they can by used directly by the body. Bee pollen happens to contains all the essential amino acids.

2. Hay Fever ReliefThe theory is similar to that of a vaccination. When the pollen is ingested it allows the body to immunize against it. Now the immune system can handle larger quantities of the pollen instead of overreacting and releasing histamine. It is important to ingest bee pollen from a local honey farm so that it contains the same pollen as in the air.

3. Anti-InflammationA study has shown bee pollen to provide anti-inflammatory activity. Topically it has been used to treat inflammatory skin conditions. When ingested, the high content of antioxidants may provide this effect on our internal tissues as well.

There are so many more health benefits that people claim to have experienced from bee pollen ranging from immune support to addictions treatment to assisting with getting pregnant. The evidence is mostly anecdotal because it hasn’t been clinically researched, so I do my best to think critically about these claims.

I purchase bee pollen at our local farmer’s market and take 1 tsp of bee pollen a day at breakfast. If you have never ingested it before, you need to start with only a few granules at a time and work your way up in case of an allergic reaction, which even can be anaphylactic – be careful. I eat it by itself because I sort of like the taste, but you can do nearly anything with it. You can add it to smoothies or cereal, sprinkle it on toast, or eat it with honey the way the bees do.